Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

189725

Ethnography of primary school teaching in Tanzania

Sharon Tao

pp. 209-232

Abstract

This chapter focuses on ethnographic case study and how this research strategy allows for in-depth investigations through a range of qualitative methods committed to producing complex, holistic, and detailed understandings of a situation. This research strategy was particularly useful with regard to a research project that attempted to characterise and understand how Tanzanian teachers experienced the world, the working and living conditions which they negotiated daily, and how these contributed to their practices and behaviours in the classroom. Teachers' personal narratives were collected via three school-based ethnographic case studies located in northern Tanzania. Attention was paid to the role of interpretation in facilitating translation from Kiswahili to English, speaking with and for others, and the delineation of two types of narratives: an aspirational story of the types of personal and occupational lives that teachers wish to lead; and wider meta-narratives regarding social and institutional structures that conflict with these aspirations.

Publication details

Published in:

Smeyers Paul, Bridges David, Burbules Nicholas C., Griffiths Morwenna (2015) International handbook of interpretation in educational research. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 209-232

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-9282-0_11

Full citation:

Tao Sharon (2015) „Ethnography of primary school teaching in Tanzania“, In: P. Smeyers, D. Bridges, N. C. Burbules & Griffiths (eds.), International handbook of interpretation in educational research, Dordrecht, Springer, 209–232.